Digitalis hybrid plant named ‘Firecracker’

ABSTRACT

The new and distinct cultivar of intergeneric Digitalis hybrid plant named ‘Firecracker’ is characterized by sturdy, upright and dense habit with dark-green, serrate foliage and densely-branched flower stems with flowers that are open-faced, campanulate, self-cleaning, vivid yellowish-orange with reddish-purple undertones over a long period. The flowers produce an abundance of nectar and are attractive to hummingbirds in the landscape. The new plant is useful in the garden landscape, as a container plant or as a cut flower.

Botanical designation: Digitalis x Isoplexis.

Cultivar denomination: ‘Firecracker’.

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(B)(6)

The first disclosure of the claimed plant, in the form of catalogadvertisement by Gootjes-Allplant BV of The Netherlands on Aug. 20, 2019followed by a posting on Mar. 3, 2020 by Walters Gardens, Inc. on theirwebsite. Information for these plants and subsequent plants for thesesales were obtained from the inventor. No plants of Digitalis‘Firecracker’ have been sold, in this country or anywhere in the worldnor has any disclosure of the new plant been made more than one yearprior the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosurewithin one year was obtained either derived directly or indirectly fromthe inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of hybridplant, botanically known as Digitalis ambigua x Isoplexis chalcantha.The new Digitalis x Isoplexis ‘Firecracker’ is the product of a plannednatural line breeding program conducted by the inventor at a wholesaleperennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich., USA. The objective of the breedingprogram was to create novel intergeneric hybrid cultivars betweenDigitalis ambigua and Isoplexis chalcantha with excellent flowers,foliage and habit.

The new intergeneric Digitalis hybrid was a planned cross between aproprietary selection of the seed cultivar Digitalis ambigua ‘Carillon’(not patented) as the female or seed parent times a proprietaryselection of Isoplexis chalcantha (not patented) as the male or pollenparent on Feb. 9, 2012 and later assigned the breeder code of 12-18-19.After further evaluation ‘Firecracker’ was selected as a single plantfrom among several hundred crosses between various forms of suchDigitalis x Isoplexis hybrids and first asexually propagated by basalshoot cuttings in the summer of 2013 at the same wholesale perennialnursery in Zeeland, Mich. The new plant has since also been successfullyasexually propagated by sterile shoot tip tissue culture. All of theresultant asexually propagated plants by cuttings and tissue culturehave remained stable and reproduced true to type in successivegenerations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Plants of the foxglove plant cultivar Digitalis x Isoplexis‘Firecracker’ have not been observed under all possible environmentalconditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in.environment such as fertilizer, temperature, light intensity andphotoperiod and plant growth regulators without, however, any variancein genotype.

The following traits in combination with one another have beenrepeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristicsof ‘Firecracker’:

-   -   1. Sturdy, upright and dense growth habit.    -   2. High number of stiff basal branches extending bloom season        from early summer till frost.    -   3. Medium, open-faced, campanulate-formed, horizontal-facing,        long-blooming, self-cleaning, non-secund flowers of vivid        yellowish-orange with reddish-purple undertones;    -   4. Narrow, gray-green, sparsely-pubescent, mostly-basal, serrate        leaves.

Plants of the new Digitalis can be compared to the female parent,Digitalis ambigua ‘Carillon’ has longer and broader flowers ofcreamy-yellow on shorter plants and the flowering season is muchshorter. The male parent has dark, glossy, glabrous foliage withshrub-like habit with less branching of the flower stems, and theflowers are deeper reddish-orange in color on darker stems. The newplant is also more herbaceous producing more basal rosettes and branchesthan the male parent which is less branched and more shrub-like. Otherclosely comparable plants include, ‘Berry Canary’ U.S. Plant Pat. No.27,607, ‘Firebird’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,840, ‘Flame’ (not patented),‘DG 09/4’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 25,442, ‘Dusty Maid’ (not patented) and‘Sunset’ (not patented). Digitalis ‘Berry Canary’ U.S. Plant Pat. No.17,849 has a slightly taller habit and larger flowers of purplish rosewith light yellow throats with burgundy speckling into a taller plant.‘Firebird’ has a taller and broader habit, and flowers of coppery-pinkwith soft orange throats having pinkish purple spotting. ‘Flame’ has ataller and broader habit with flowers of more pinkish-lavender and softyellowish-orange throat with pinkish-lavender spotting. ‘DG 09/04’ haspetals with an outer surface color of dark pink with apricot undertonesand the inner surface of yellowish orange with dark pink margins anddark pink spotting. ‘Dusty Maid’ has flowers that are burgundy on theoutside with yellow center and reddish-burgundy margins and veins, andthe petal apices are rounded. ‘Sunset’ has flowers of rustypinkish-purple with centers of orangish-amber and reddish veined andspotted. All of the above comparison varieties have larger flowers thanFirecracker.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The photographs of the new plant demonstrate the overall appearance ofthe plant, including the unique traits. The colors are as accurate asreasonably possible with color reproductions. Ambient light spectrum,source and direction may cause the appearance of minor variation incolor. The plants used in the drawings are second-year growing plantsfollowing a vernalization period of about 8 weeks, grown in a greenhouseat a wholesale nursery in Zeeland, Mich. with supplemental fertilizerbut without plant growth regulators.

FIG. 1 shows the plant compact, dense, upright, flowering habit of atwo-year-old plant.

FIG. 2 shows a close-up of the flowers on the scape.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following descriptions and color references are based on the 2015edition of The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart except wherecommon dictionary terms are used. The new plant, Digitalis x Isoplexis‘Firecracker’, has not been observed under all possible environments.The phenotype may vary slightly with different environmental conditions,such as temperature, light, fertility, moisture and maturity levels, butwithout any change in the genotype. The following observations and sizedescriptions are of two-year-old plants in both the greenhouses andloamy-sand open field trials of a nursery in Zeeland, Mich. withsupplemental fertilizer and water as needed. The outdoor plants are nottreated with plant growth regulators, nor were they pinched at any timein the growth year. The greenhouse-grown plants were treated once with agrowth retardant. Flower bud and flower color differ in the two growingconditions while other traits remain identical.

-   Parentage: Female, or seed parent an unnamed and unreleased    selection of Digitalis ambigua ‘Carillion’; male, or pollen parent    an unnamed, unreleased selection of Isoplexis chalcantha;-   Propagation: Method: shoot tip cuttings and sterile shoot tip plant    tissue culture division.-   Root description: Fine, freely branching; color creamy white near    RHS 15D;-   Time to initiate roots from tissue culture: About two weeks;-   Crop time: Under normal cool spring growing conditions of 12° to 15°    C., finished flowering plants can be obtained in about 8 to 10 weeks    from a vernalized 25 mm plug;-   Plant vigor: Very good;-   Plant habit: Perennial, hardy from at least USDA zone 8 through 10    but capable of growing in colder regions as an annual; upright and    dense; leaves cauline and alternate; tightly arranged, nodes about    5.0 mm apart in lower stem and 2.2 cm in upper portion before    flowers, average about 8.0 mm apart; size with flowers about 88.0 cm    tall and 42.0 cm across at widest point with branches;-   Main stem: Stiff and erect; about 88.0 cm long and 2.0 cm diameter    at base; densely puberulent; cylindrical with basal portion having    ridges extended from central leaf veins; length of ridges extends to    next lower leaf directly below; with basal branches and axillary    branches;-   Main stem color: Lower portion nearest RHS 145C and the upper    portion in higher light exposure between RHS N186C and RHS 79B;-   Primary branches: Upright next to main stem; to about 55 cm long and    7.0 mm diameter; lightly puberulent; about eight per plant; color    and tinting same as main stem;-   Axillary (secondary) branches: About two per plant; nearly erect;    about 17 cm long and 3.0 mm diameter at base; puberulent; flowering    from secondary branches arising from nodes just below lowest flowers    and successively continuing lower at each node; same color as main    branch;-   Foliage: Cauline and dextrorse to alternate; sessile; to about 20.0    cm long at base and 5.3 cm wide at widest point, average about 15.0    cm long and 3.5 cm; about 120 leaves per plant below initial    flowers;-   Leaf blade: Cuneate, with acute apex and attenuate to sessile base;    very lightly puberulent on both surfaces; serrate to serrulate in    distal region; lustrous above and slightly lustrous below;-   Leaf blade color: Adaxial nearest RHS 139A, abaxial nearest RHS    137C;-   Veins: Pinnate; puberulent abaxial and sparsely puberulent adaxial;    ridged on bottom and slightly impressed above;-   Vein color: Adaxial nearest RHS 139A; abaxial midrib and primary    veins nearest RHS 146D, secondary veins and perimeter veins nearest    RHS NN137C;-   Flower: Campanulate, total corolla average size 3.0 cm long and face    opening to 2.4 cm across and 2.0 cm tall, with basal 2.0 cm of    corolla tube fused and to about 12.0 mm wide and 11.0 mm tall at    fusion; zygomorphic; with four main lobes, two side lobes smallest    and nearly perpendicular to upper and lower lobes, lowest lobe    longest and upper lobe widest; two side lobes about 5.0 mm wide at    fusion and 26.0 mm long with broadly acute apex; upper lobe about    10.0 mm wide at fusion and 26.0 mm long with emarginate apex with    lobes acute; lowest lobe about 13.0 mm wide at fusion and 26.0 mm    long, apex typically acute; length of side lobes from fusion to apex    about 6.0 mm, top lobe length from fusion to apex about 8.0 mm and    lowest lobe length from fusion to apex about 10.0 mm; side and lower    lobes rarely with single 1.0 mm long tooth at base before corolla    fusion; speckling or flecking absent on adaxial of the petal    surfaces; lowest lobe and side lobes puberulent on abaxial surfaces    and distal portion of adaxial surfaces; upper lobe glabrous on    adaxial and abaxial surfaces; not persistent, self-cleaning;    produces large amount of nectar;-   Flower number: About 50 per main stem, about 45 per lateral branch    and about 33 per axillary branch;-   Flower bud: Oblong tubular; to about 19.0 mm long and 7.0 mm    diameter near middle and about 4.5 mm diameter near base; apex and    base rounded;-   Flower bud color in greenhouse: Nearest a blend between RHS 31C and    RHS N170C distally with slight blush of RHS 82A, proximally nearest    RHS 150D;-   Flower bud color in full sun: Nearest RHS 23D, ventrally with    undertones of nearest RHS 145B proximally;-   Flower color in greenhouse: Varies with maturity; shortly after    opening—ventral abaxial between RHS 179D and RHS 164D, dorsal    abaxial nearest RHS 181C, and adaxial distally nearest RHS 164C and    adaxial proximally nearest RHS 164D; at pollen dehiscence about five    days after opening abaxial dorsal nearest RHS N34A, abaxial ventral    between RHS N34A and RHS 34B, adaxial lower lobe nearest RHS N163C    with veins and distal blushing of nearest RHS 173A, side and upper    lobes nearest RHS 178A and RHS 170A; prior to dehiscence abaxial    dorsal nearest RHS 178C and RHS 181B and ventral nearest RHS 167D,    adaxial lower and side lobes nearest a blend between RHS N163D and    RHS 167B, upper lobe nearest RHS 167B with proximal blushing of    nearest RHS173B;-   Flower color in full sun: Varies slightly with maturity; shortly    after opening—ventral abaxial between RHS 23D and RHS 23C, dorsal    abaxial between RHS 26C and RHS 26B, and adaxial nearest RHS 23B    with veins nearest RHS 31B; at pollen dehiscence about four to five    days after opening ventral abaxial between RHS 26B and RHS 26C,    dorsal abaxial between RHS 34C and RHS 34D, adaxial nearest RHS 26B    with veins of nearest RHS 31B; prior to flower drop abaxial ventral    nearest RHS 26C and abaxial dorsal between RHS 26C and RHS 26D,    adaxial nearest RHS 26C with veins of nearest RHS 26D;-   Inflorescence: Average size 52.0 cm long and 22.0 cm wide with side    branches;-   Flower bract: Deltoid to lanceolate; sharply acute apex and truncate    sessile base; margin finely serrate; adaxial and abaxial finely    puberulent; to about 2.4 cm long and 1.0 cm across near middle,    decreasing distally;-   Flower bract color: Adaxial nearest RHS NN137A, abaxial nearest RHS    137A;-   Natural flowering season: Early summer through frost;-   Flower longevity: Individual flowers on plant lasting about 7 to 10    days; main flower spike stays in flower for at least three months    under ideal conditions;-   Fragrance: None detected;-   Sepals: Five; persistent; lanceolate; acute apex, truncate base,    entire and puberulent margin; puberulent abaxial and adaxial; about    12.0 mm long and 4.0 cm across at middle;-   Sepal color: Adaxial and abaxial surfaces nearest a blend between    RHS 146C and RHS 138A;-   Peduncle: Strong, erect; puberulent; about 88.0 cm long and 8.0 mm    in diameter below first flowers; color lower portion nearest RHS    145C and the upper portion in higher light exposure between RHS    N186C and RHS 79B;-   Pedicel: Puberulent; cylindrical; erect to 45 degree angle at flower    anthesis; to 13.0 mm long and 1.7 mm diameter; color nearest RHS    137B with low light exposure and nearest RHS N186C in high light    exposure;-   Gynoecium: Single; about 25.0 mm long;    -   -   Style.—Arcuate downward; lustrous; about 19.0 mm long and            gradually tapering from ovary to stigma to about 0.7 mm            diameter, color nearest RHS 160D toward stigma and nearest            RHS N186C toward ovary.        -   Stigma.—Acute; to about 1.0 mm long and about 0.5 mm wide;            color lighter than RHS 4B.        -   Ovary.—Superior; puberulent; long, conical, apex tapering to            meet style; about 6.0 mm long and 3.0 mm across at base;            color nearest RHS 144B.-   Androecium: Four, didynamous; further extending set dehiscing first;    -   -   Filaments.—Four; flattened and arcuate along inside of            petal; basal 3.0 mm adnate to petal; about 15.0 mm and 19.0            mm long and 1.0 mm diameter at base; color nearest RHS            N186D.        -   Anther.—Further extending set dehiscing first; divergent            dorsifixed; each half about 2.5 mm long and each half about            1.0 mm across; color prior to dehiscence between RHS 4B.        -   Pollen.—Abundant, dust-like; color nearest RHS 158C.-   Fruit: Mature seed pods rarely produced; and viable seed production    have not yet been observed;-   Seed: Viable seed production has not yet been observed;-   Disease and pest resistance or tolerance: ‘Firecracker’ is not    normally bothered by rodents or deer in the landscape. Disease or    pest resistance beyond that typical of other Digitalis hybrids has    not been noted. The new plant performs best in full sun to slight    shade with good drainage and regular watering.-   Hardiness: The new plant is winter hardy to approximately USDA zone    8, but requires a vernalization period for best flower production.

It is claimed:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of Digitalis hybrid plantnamed ‘Firecracker’ as illustrated and described.